Digital Camcorder Video

How do I convert digital video from my Cannon digital camcorder to make it compatible with i movie?

It is spelt Canon, not Cannon.
That model uses memory cards. The bundled application is compatible with Windows XP (Service Pack 2 and 3), Windows Vista, and Windows 7 only.
Try importing the file to the Desktop first, then from the Desktop to iMovie.

Similar Messages

While digitizing camcorder video, PE7 has begun splitting into lots of little video files. Help!

I have successfully imported/digitized ca. 80 analog Hi-8 camcorder home videos into PE7 from a Sony Digital Handycam camcorder via a FireWire cable/interface. However, PE7 has now begun splitting the incoming video feed from the camcorder into lots of little (i.e. shorter) digital video files. This is now happening with a 2nd camcorder tape. I don't know why this is happening or how to change settings so it doesn't happen. It doesn't make any sense why it is happening on these tapes. Is there something that has happened with the original camcorder tapes that is kicking this off? Or did a PE7 setting get messed up somehow? Or what?

Thank you Steve, Neales, and Infinity Focus for your input. I haven't tried the freeware YET but I may have to.
Here is what I have done:
In the "Capture" panel,
   1) Capture to Timeline
   2) Split Scenes
   3) Smart Tagging
are ALL turned off (and were already)
Additionally, in the Capture Preference section of the "Device Control,"
   1) Abort capture on dropped frames (was already off)
   2) Report dropped frames (I turned off)
   3) Use device control timecode (was already off)
are ALL turned off.
I am not yet finding, to my knowledge, any other possible relevant settings. However, Infinity Focus Photos references a "split scenes setting" that he/she sometimes sets too high. Not sure where this is in PE7 or if I can adjust the level of split scene setting is, if even possible on PE7.
One concern - I digitized via the above-mentioned means ca. 80 analog Hi-8 tapes successfully via a Digital Camcorder and the Firewire port successfully. These tapes, except 1 or 2 were all recorded on the same Sony Hi-8 camcorder. Howevever, I later found another camcorder tape recorded on the same camcorder machine. Nothing should have been different in terms of the recording. Yet, rather than record the WHOLE tape as 1 file as in the previous 80 tapes. It split these 15-25 minutes into ca. 39 different files. Now I am trying to digitize another 20 tapes recorded on a different camcorder and these are ALL being split into shorter files. This makes no sense to me. I didn't change any settings on PE7 from before. However, I have NOW turned off "report dropped frames." This doesn't seem to make any difference. Plus the reporting of dropped frames is still made at the end of the digitizing task.
As I am converting from analog to digital, unless I request PE to split scenes/smart tag which I am not (to my knowledge), I don't understand why it won't record the entire tape to one file. I wouldn't think it would be reading a digital time code as the tape is analog. The only thing I could imagine is that is somehow reading changes in the picture (like going black) and trying to make smart decisions automatically (which I have NOT asked it to do). If you will, please clarify for me what might be going on.
Now that I've expressed the details, let me also express my frustration with PE7. I don't know if any here are employees of Adobe and, if so, I apologize. However, I've been very frustrated and disappointed with PE7. In my efforts to digitize and edit video footage, it has seemed that time and time again, whatever I think it should be able to do and want to do, it cannot do. I'm sure that there are many things it does well. However, importing and converting footage is one of those things that I think is an extremely limited function for PE7. I also own an older Premiere Pro (which I don't use). So many things that it seems counterintuitive that it SHOULD be able to do (without listing all of those out here), it CANNOT do. Rather, the posts scattered throughout this form seem to be constantly suggesting labor-intensive work-arounds or third-party freeware or shareware to accomplish what this software SHOULD be able to do simply. From that perspective, I would argue that this version of Premiere Elements is poorly engineered. I bought Premiere Pro and then Premiere Elements because I have been very pleased with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and the whole of the Adobe Creative Suite software. I feel bad because I have consistently regretted this decision which has resulted in substantial time delays in doing this project and hundreds of hours of additional work efforts. However, I am now fully invested into PE and switching would result in much re-work.
To me, a great video editing software (well-engineered) is fully intuitive (i.e. you can look at it and figure out what to do) and can accomplish the tasks needed from digitizing/importing through organizing through editing through final rendering for any but extreme cases (non-standard applications). Everything I've had/used and done, I would consider to be standard equipment and applications but PE7 has struggled to work with it well (Thank God, I was able to borrow a digital Hi- camcorder and that my computer had Firewire. Otherwise, I'd still be struggling). At the same time, if one needs to dig further for more complicated tasks/settings, it is easy to burrow into the software beyond the basic functions to intuitively find and set those settings. I wonder whether it might be time for PE to re-design from bottom up a good Windows alternative to Apple's iMovie applications that is consumer friendly AND capable of higher end editing needs/settings rather than continuing to make incremental changes to a software design that, in my guess, probably hearkens back to a previous era when highly knowledgeable video professionals were the primary or sole users of video software that required substantive background knowledge and a steep software learning curve. I'm sure the current versions are much better than previous era versions. Nevertheless, I would argue that a ground-up re-design may be in order that accomplishes the whole video process well and easily. Just my opinions as a non-expert.

Cannot import Sony Camcorder latest HDR-TD20 3D digital camcorder videos onto iPhoto

hi, i just bought the latest Sony camcorder HDR-TD20. when connecting the camcorder to iMac/iPhoto, iPhoto can only recognize the photos i took in the camcorder, but didn't recognize or detect any of the videos I recorded on the camcorder. i believe they're in AVCHD files...
can any one let me know whether there's a new driver that needs to update iPhoto in order for iPhoto to recognize these video files?
iMovie however, seems to recognize the movies and is able to import there... but i realy would like to keep all photos and videos in one place - i.e., iPhoto

iPhoto doesn't work with AVCHD.
If you're shooting AVCHD then you are shooting to edit. So, shoot, process in iMovie, export as a .mov and import that to iPhoto.
If you're not shooting to edit then don't shoot AVCHD.

Recovering Deleted Camcorder Video Footage/HD Files

Does anyone have any success with recovering accidentally deleted video files from a tapeless workflow camcorder?
I think the camera is a Canon Vixia. It is HD footage that was lost.
I did an online search but was looking for some suggestions or recommendations. Thank you!

I haven't met this before as I am having my Samsung digital camera instead of camcorder. But I think it's similar between camera video recovery and camcorder video recovery. You have chance to recover the deleted video provided it is not overwrtten(if you keep taking new videos or save more files, then possibly). You may read this article about recovering camcorder videos I just came across,
http://www.squidoo.com/recover-digital-camcorder-video
One more suggestion: Always backup your precious files especially those photos,videos. Because like what was said, recovery software is the last option.

Camcorder vs. Digital Camera Video Mode

Hi,
I'm a newbie and I'm hoping this forum can help me. I have a Canon ZR45 Camcorder (18x Optical Zoom/ 360X Digital Zoom) (Yes, it's about 4yrs old) and a Canon SD750 that takes 30 fps VGA with a max 640x480 size.
I took a video of my new baby just playing around using both. In my mind, I would have thought the camcorder would have had better quality when played back in iMovie but when I looked at the clips side by side, the video from the Digital Camera looked much better and crisper. The camcorder video was pretty blurry. I cannot make sense of comparing the 18x optical zoom info of the camcorder as that is all i have to go by with it to anything more specific in terms of fps or resolution size.
Has the digital video gotten that much better over the years? I'm all for carrying as little as possible. Any comparison to newer camcorders in terms of overall quality?
Sorry for the long story, but thanks so much in advance!
Jason

Digital camera's video feature has improved considerably. If you simply compare the video on the codec level many of today's digi-cams have better quality than aging DV format. But that is only part of the story.
TV vs Computer - If you shoot video for TV playback on mind, DV would probably yield better result because it is designed for TV and not computer displays, which is why they look bad on computers than on TV. Two have very different color and gamma characteristics. Conversely, to make digicam videos good on TV proper color correction should be done, or they tend to look too contrasty and harsh.
Motion rendering - Most digi cam videos shoot 30 progressive frames per second while DVs shoot 30 interlaced frames (or 60 fields) per second, so the motion rendering is smoother on DV.
Maunal control - Digital cameras have few if at all manual control for exposure or shutter speed of your video.
Zoom - Most DV cams at least have 10x optical zoom, while digital cameras olny have 3~5x optical zoom.
Audio - From built in microphone's quality to audio recording format, DV's audio is superior to digicam's mono low quality audio.
Accessorizing - Camorders have common threads (43mm, 72mm, etc) where you can screw in various filters or conversion/wide angle lens.
Portability and quick snap-ablity - pocket digital cams truly shine for this and maybe it's all needed. With your camera in the pocket you will have much better chance of capturing the moment of your baby's first step. Just make sure you have large memory card in it.
Perhaps camera like Sanyo's xacti HD700 would be a good hybrid. It is a digital camera with the stress on movie function than still image.
Message was edited by: Euisung Lee

A workflow to burn AVCHD camcorder video and 5.1 sound to BluRay disc.

A workflow to burn AVCHD camcorder video and 5.1 sound to BluRay disc.
After weeks searching through many posts by the Forum’s experts with Final Cut Pro and Compressor, I have a crude workflow that seems to work for me, and might be of interest to others. This information I couldn’t find in the Help files of either FCP or Compressor, and would appreciate feedback on other options. Thanks to the Forum contributors who have helped me with suggestions.
I have successfully burned a BluRay DVD of the video and audio outputs of my new Panasonic AVCHD camcorder, that is, 1920x1080 video and 5.1 surround sound, using Final Cut Studio 2 (FCP 7.0.2, Compressor 3.5.4.) on an Intel iMac with OS 10.6.3
Using AUNSOFT-PAVTUBE or CLIPWRAP, I converted the camcorder’s MTS files to ProRes 422 .mov files containing 5.1 six channels of audio.
In FCPro, set the Sequence / Settings / Audio Outputs to 5.1 Monitoring:
     L+R Stereo,     Stereo
     Center             Dual Mono
     LFE                Dual Mono
     Ls +Rs            Stereo
Uncheck the “Downmix…to Stereo” in Warning box that pops up when this step is completed.
Drag the ProRes .mov file into the time line of FCP 7:
The next steps are important for assigning each of the six audio channels to the Dolby 5.1 configuration (L, R, C, Lfe, Ls, Rs). This step was new to me and something I couldn’t find in the FCPro or Compressor Help file manual. If anyone can reference a page number, I would appreciate that info.
In the FCP time line, unlink the video from the audio channels (Linked Selection) in the upper right corner of the FCP time line.
Select each audio channel, then right click in the area of the blank column near the padlock. Assign A1, A2, A3 etc to each of the audio channels as they fit the Dolby configuration ( L+R, C, Lfe, Ls+Rs) This process is kind of clunky and it may take patience to accomplish.
The best Forum ideas that I could find for setting up the six channel audio came from the following posts which I credit for their help:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/9095726#9095726
https://discussions.apple.com/message/12525373#12525373
In FCPro, Mark In and Out points, Select In to Out
Under File / Share option ………Select BluRay job……then Select either “Export” or “Send to Compressor”
(Note: At this point, the Option Export which enables FCPro to burn a BluRay DVD, seems to work well, and the resulting DVD video and six channels of audio seems as good as that produced by the more complicated option of “Send to Compressor”……..which is described below.)
If the Send to Compressor option is selected, Compressor is automatically started by this selection. At this point, do not Quit FCPro, because Compressor needs to transfer file data (or something like that) to Compressor.
In the job pane of Compressor, will exist two targets, H264 for BluRay and Dolby Digital.
I deleted the Dolby Digital and replaced it with Dolby Digital Professional Auto.
Clicking any where in the Sequence 1 job pane (not in H264 nor Dolby target rows) will reveal the A/V attributes:
Under the Job Action tab, select the BluRay unit that will eventually do the burning.
Clicking on the target H264 for BluRay located in the larger Job Pane reveals the settings I chose:
Clicking on the target Dolby Digital Professional (Auto) reveals these settings I chose:
I left settings on the Bitstream tab untouched. However the Preprocessing tab, I set the Compression Preset to “None”.
I found that turning on the BluRay burner with a preloaded BD/RE is best to do at this time, or even better, to energize the burner at the time that the “Send to Compressor” function is activated.
When settings are complete, select “Submit” in the lower corner of the Compressor larger pane and processing will begin, and a status pane indicating time elapsed and time remaining will appear. These estimates are not very accurate.
I have found that my 1 minute test video was initially estimated to require about two hours of processing time, but actually required only 1 hour which is still unusually long. Based on my experience, be prepared for an “overnight” processing to occur for longer movie durations.
This is the part of the overall process I need to understand better: How to estimate the duration to encode and burn 1 minute of video / audio? This 1 hour duration for 1 minute of video/audio was the same whether I SHARE-Exported to FCPro to burn DVD, or SHARE-Send to Compressor option.
Wondering if the encoding of the six 5.1 audio channels caused the lengthy processing(?). Perhaps settings that I made in Compressor affected time to process and burn.
Finally, I hope this poorly written process will help someone who has been looking for the same information as I had been. I would appreciate feedback from those who have already done this; what OS are you using, what hardware are you using? What software package have you tried. And lastly, Thanks to all who contribute to these Community Forums, who take the time to detail their processes. You all have helped me to get this far.
BoBo

Go to https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4719249
BoBo

Audio disabled in Skype when using Digital Camcorder

Hello guys,
I have a question regarding using DV Camcorder for Skype videochat. I have Mac Pro, OS X Leopard.
I am using digital Camcorder which is connected to Mac via FireWire connection. The problem is, that person I chat with is seeing my video fine, but cannot hear my audio. (I am using a standard external microphone connected to the camcorder via XLR, and camcorder shows that audio is received fine)
Is there any setting I have to change? Or anything else I have to adjust in order to fix this problem?
Thank you so much for any advise

There must be some users out there who for some odd reason don't won't the digital output to be mutable. Are they the majority of digital output users? Seems unlikely.
Can't we get our mute key back as an option for digital out in the Sound prefs panel?

Sony Digital Camcorder -TRV27

I have a SONY Digital Camcorder, model DCR-TRV27. This model was probably released sometime in 2001/2002. The camera supports connection to either a Windows PC or MAC using a USB cable.I followed the instructions in the camera manual andalso the instructions from iMovie but not having any success in viewing and/or transferring the movies from Camcorder to iMovie. Do I need any additional software on the iMac?

Welcome to iMovie Discussions.
The TRV27 is a miniDV tape camcorder, so it must be connected to your Mac with a 4-pin-to-6-pin FireWire cable, not a USB cable. (..Sony calls the cable an 'i.Link' cable, sometimes it's called a DV cable..)
The USB connection is only for retrieving things stored on the camcorder's Memory Stick.
You don't need any additional software: iMovie is all that you need for importing the video. But a FireWire/i.Link/DV cable wouldn't have been included in the box with the camera; Sony only included the USB cable. (That's because for connection to most PCs of that era you'd need a 4-pin-to-4-pin cable, whereas Macs need a 4-pin-to-6-pin cable ..so Sony didn't include either one.)
The cable you need looks like this: buy one at any electronics shop.

Software to convert VHS- DVD (w/out digital camcorder)?

Hey everybody,
I was wondering if anybody was aware of any software for converting VHS tapes to DVD wth your Mac that is Lion-ready? I'm looking to be able to plug my VCR into my Mac and encode in real time via some sort of component to USB cable (because I don't own a digital camcorder). If you could also point me in the direction of the required hardware to complete this process that would be awesome!
Thanks,
Tyler

Have been doing this for some time, my setup:
I use an ancient "Symphonic" VCR player connected to an Elgato Eyetv Hybrid USB dongle. That plugs into my G5 Mac, 10.5.8, which runs Eyetv software v. 2.5.3.
Recording is dead simple after fiddling around a bit with software settings for channel, etc. Start the player, hit "record" on the software and wait for the end.
The recording is saved in some obscure ".eyetv" format with file size about 4 GB per hour of recording. The software has export to a variety of formats including QT Movie which results in a substantially larger file size.
Quality? Well, it's viewable and usable for archive purposes. I'm fine with it but more discriminating folks may want something better. I end up burning the video on a DVD using iDVD and that's not the greatest anyway.
There are various Elgato units available, and the Eyetv Hybrid seems to run bout $130.
Hope that helps.

I have an older Sony digital camcorder, and I am having trouble importing the movie files. Sometimes I get the audio in iTunes without the picture. I have a Pinnacle Dazzle interface. What am I doing wrong. Is there a way to skip the dazzle device?

I have an older Sony digital camcorder, and I am having trouble importing the movie files. Sometimes I get the audio in iTunes without the picture. I have a Pinnacle Dazzle interface. What am I doing wrong. Is there a way to skip the dazzle device?

Chances are the pinnacle is producing .avi files or MPEFG1/2 streams - iTunes may know how to decode the audio but not the video. Download Handbrake and try running the Pinnacle files through it and adding to iTunes - use Universal format unless you have a specific device in mind.
Keep copies of the originals.
Another option might be to try to install Perian. Can't remember if the Apple MPEG2 plugin allows MPEG2 to be played in iTunes.
AC

IPhoto doesn't support my digital camcorder -- what Apple application will?

It's looking as if iPhoto doesn't support my Sony digital camcorder (DCR-TRV280). It's not listed among the Sony products it supports. I don't need it for video; just downloading still photos. But the Sony website resolutely refuses to recommend image-capture software. The ImageCapture application that also came with my Mac (OS 10.4) doesn't support my camcorder either. Is there a place where I can look up what application I can use -- perhaps another version of iPhoto or a modification to it -- to capture images off of my camcorder? A bonus would be if I didn't have to pay for it.
Thanks in advance if anyone has any ideas (including perhaps another forum to pitch this question in if no one knows?).
Chris Roth
[email protected]

Hi Chris,
Image Capture should work getting the stills over the camcorder. Use a USB cable for the connection.

Need help with Digital Camcorder compatibility!

I am looking to buy a digital video camera but I am not sure if they are "compatible" with my iMac. My friend just bought the JVC - Everio Digital Camcorder - Model: GZMG330HUS. It comes with Windows software and the manual has a brief mention of how to Backup-Up the video files onto the Mac but no mention of the video format being compatible with Mac. Anyway we tried plugging it into the Mac to see how it responded, and it did not, except that it saw it as a device that we could access the video files to copy then to the Mac hard drive. The Video files have an extendion .MOD and .MOI. Tried double clicking on the MOD (the video itself) and the Mac gave the message that no application exists to run it.
I really want iMovie to recognize it so I can edit the video and make movies to sent to family.
So, my question is whether any of you have tried this? Is there a solution to get this type of camera to be recognized by iMac? Are there other suggestions for compatible cameras in the $400 range (like this JVC is)?
Thanks in advance.

I had an issue with a JVC customer service rep that caused me to return a JVC camcorder that would not work with my iMac. I have since purchased the Panasonic PV-GS320 mini/dv camcorder.
Fantastic video and absolutely no problems. Recognized through iMovie, iDVD and FCE HD 3.5 via firewire. How-ever, you will have to purchase a firewire cable as it is not supplied with the camcorder.
Also in your price range, around $350.00.
Hope this helps.

How to import MPEG-1 camcorder video into iMac?

I have a Sony digital camcorder purchased in 2002 which records to film. I would like to import the video from this camcorder into my iMac (purchased Jan. 2007) for playback on the computer and to burn the video to DVDs.
When I hook up the camcorder to my computer via Firewire cable and turn it on to the VCR position for importation into the iMovie HD program, nothing happens. There is no communication between the camcorder and the iMovie HD program. None of the steps recommended by Apple that I have tried to establish communication between the camcorder and iMovie HD have worked. It appears that the camcorder format (MPEG-1) is incompatible with iMovie HD.
I will appreciate any knowledgeable advice on how to successfully import this video into my iMac for the intended purposes.
Bob

Thanks for your responses.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I miscued in attempting to import the camcorder video into my computer. I corrected my mistake and successfully imported the video, watching it on the iMovie monitor and seeing the video clips appear as the import proceeded.
I added the clips to the movie and saved the project. I just got through playing back the whole movie. Yippee!
I was surprised that this 12-minute recording produced a movie file size of 2.14 GB. Ouch! Is this normal? If so, I’m glad I opted for a 500 GB hard drive on this iMac!
You may be wondering where I went wrong in my initial attempts to import this movie into my computer. John was right in saying “...it should be as simple as you thought.” Simple, that is, if you follow all of the necessary steps! Where I missed the boat was in not clicking the Create button after entering the various pieces of information into the Create Project window. I obviously overlooked the fact that Apple treats the importing of a simple camcorder video into a computer as a major movie-making event. The next time I go through this exercise I’ll don my Martin Scorsese hat to make sure it doesn’t happen again!
The next step will be to burn this movie to a DVD. Wish me success as I research how to do this without any further miscues.
Bob

Import problem to after effects from hp t200 digital camcorder

Ok here is the problem, I just bought a hp t200 digital camcorder for filming and when i take video and try to import i get this error msg from quick time and after effects:
quick time: The document “[ I keep changing it differently but it's always the same no matter what i put ]” could not be opened. The movie is not in a format that QuickTime Player understands.
(I can't seem to make it work no matter what I do)
after effects: After effects error " file name " cannot be opened, it may be in an unsupported format. ( 86 :: 1 )
I need this fixed because I am going to be making a found footage film and I am going tobe putting effects in this (duh) and it would be most appreciated to have an answer please.
Jake

This sounds like Quicktime is missing the codec in which your camera records. Since few people have every camera model and their codecs memorized, you'll need to identify it.
To further aid in diagnosis, I also recommend a visit here.http://forums.adobe.com/thread/961743?tstart=0

Record Movie from Digital Camcorder and Audio Interface

I need to find an easy way to record from outboard audio and video equipment, keep it in sync and create a movie file like iMovie out of it. I have a Digital Camcorder I would like to use, and I have my mic interface and I would like to record from both of those at the same time, without needing to sync it together later. iMovie will let me do this, however it will only let me record audio from an outboard device, not video (or at least, not iMovie '08); it requires use of the internal camera. Does anyone know if iMovie 09 will do this, or another Apple program that will work? I'm also running Logic Studio so I have access to Logic and Soundtrack Pro.

With HD being the new standard, do you imagine that they might make QT able to acquire HD soon? Seems that since it plays HD, it should be able to acquire HD too. thanks for your help!

Digital Camcorder Video

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for